Deleted Scenes from The Greatest Fear of the Nightmare King
by Not that way never go that way
Summary: Things that happened off screen, were only loosely explained, entirely skipped over, or spin-off alternate parts from the fic "The Greatest Fear of the Nightmare King"
1. Chapter 1

((Author's Note: This one takes place in the middle of chapter 22, so if you haven't read that yet, this may not make a lot of sense.))

* * *

I'm so _done_ with this.

I burst into the cold cave, ice growing around me without control. I'm so...just. I'm so angry. I'm pissed off at Pitch for bringing me to Jamie, I'm pissed at being possessed by fearlings, at myself for hurting Pitch, for not being able to help Stephanie when she needed me to keep her playing in the snow safe. This whole situation. People are in danger. I need a break.

And what was up with Pitch, anyway? First he acts all helpful, like he actually might care, and then he goes and does that. He was always like this, I just let him distract me and manipulate me. I put my trust in him without even realizing what I was doing. Handing over my heart to the bad guy, because that's what he is. The enemy. I rip the black bandage off my neck and throw it on the ground.

"Ugh!" I need to calm down, I know I do. I'm going overboard, Pitch isn't really who I'm angry with. Throwing a tantrum can only make it worse.

My thought is proven correct when I look around myself and realize that I've managed to trap myself. The only exit has been completely boarded with thick, dark ice. Great. Now, not only do I feel trapped by whatever identity crisis is going on in my head, but also I'm actually trapped in a cage made almost entirely of ice and stone. Even the ceiling is made of nothing but think ice going on for miles. Maybe it's better this way. I can't exactly do much harm to anyone down here. Then again, I'm needed up there, aren't I? They need fun too, right?

The Guardians would find me, eventually, I'm sure. If I don't find my own way to break the ice.

Or Pitch. He could just teleport in here any minute now and get me out. He probably just knows where I am. I don't know how he does it, but somehow, he always seems to know my whereabouts. If I asked him about it, he'd probably just say something like 'there's latent fear in everybody' and brush it off like it's completely normal to sense that kind of stuff. Where is he, anyway? Probably where he belongs, under a bed, scaring some poor little kid for the greater good.

But...didn't he say, once, that he was tired of hiding under beds? Was he just saying that because he wanted to rise to power, or was it because he wanted out of scaring business? Hah, who am I kidding? He wanted power. Pitch hardly even knows how to laugh, what could he possibly do outside of scaring? Besides, the world needs Pitch. Scary, mysterious, darkness-bringing Pitch. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. If the world really needed the sad, weary, light-warrior Kozmotis all along, then we kinda screwed that one up.

Pitch knows my fears well enough by now that I kinda feel like I forgot he can't just read my thoughts. He reads my fear, not everything else. He doesn't know it when I'm angry unless he sees it on my face or I tell him. This cave is so lonely and I've been just that for so many years of my time as a spirit that it's almost a comforting feeling. Apparently, getting used to isolation isn't as impossible as I've thought. Maybe it's okay to just feel the fear and let it take hold.

That's when I notice something in the reflection of myself cast my the mirror of ice. A streak of black hair.

Feeling the strong spike of fear that I'm not really free of the fearlings makes me half expect Pitch to show up...and kinda even want him to, to tell me that it's not a big deal, that I'm being ridiculous, and that the scent of my fear is bothering him so he came to help it go away. But he wouldn't do that. He won't. He wouldn't do that, genuinely.

I'm sure.

I'm certain, because despite how scared I am right now of losing myself, Pitch just isn't here. He isn't listening. He doesn't care. I'm not important. He's busy. I'm useless.

Damn it. No, I'm not. I deserve to be seen, to be part of the world, to be heard. I just want out of this stupid cave and out of this ditch in my mind that's pulling me down and dragging me through the dirt. I'm allowed to want to leave. I don't care what Pitch thinks about me crying for his assistance, because there's nothing wrong with having help sometimes when you're stuck. And I am definitely stuck right now. I've been here for two days? Maybe three? I've tried getting myself out.

I get down on my knees, picking up the ribbon bandage that I tossed when I first got here, looking at the darkest corner of the cave I can see. "Hey, Pitch? Little help, here?" I wait a moment and sigh. Nothing. No reaction. He isn't listening. I'm not sure what the rules are exactly, but I don't think he could hear me unless some part of him was in the darkness. That's a guess. "I'm stuck. Pitch? Hey!" I shout into the dark and wait for a response.

Exactly what I expected, nothing. I'm sure he isn't hearing anything. He won't come for me.

"...Remember what you said in Antarctica? Back when I hated you and you hated me, and it was simple? ...I could really use that whole 'family' thing right about now. Or, anything. I don't know. Whatever. I guess family doesn't really fit. In fact, you'd probably try to behead me or something for that. Doesn't matter, though. You can't hear me. I know you can't hear me. I can't stop talking to you as though you could, though. Hah, at this point, I'm not even sure if I want you to hear me." But I do want to tell him things. I don't know why. I just feel like he'd somehow understand.

"I don't know what's happening to me. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm still angry that you brought me to Jamie without consent, though. Also, I just lovedbeing shoved into a dark, endless pit of fear and despair and then ending up in the last place I wanna be. Just my favorite kind of transportation. Thanks for that." I wait. Still no response.

"...But I get it. I think. You were trying to get him to believe in me, weren't you? Trying to be helpful in the darkest, creepiest way that you can." The material of this ribbon is a lot more silky than I thought it was. It kind of exudes darkness in the same way that Pitch himself does.

"Tell you what, if you show up here like right now, I swear I won't hit you for being a jerk and not even warning me about where you were taking me." Laughing half-heartedly into the empty cave, it reminds me that there's really no one listening.

"Pitch! _Damn_ it! I just want outta here!" Trying to smash the ice at the entrance does nothing. It doesn't make a single crack, even using all of my strength. I feel so sick and just...wrong. I don't even look like myself anymore. I let myself slide down the ice wall and back to the ground, hugging my knees like they can substitute for a person. For Pitch. The next time I speak, it's quietly. I don't really think I want him to hear. "This is your fault, y'know. Not the darkness, that's on me. It's your fault I feel so horrible right now. If you hadn't...I don't know. Maybe it is my fault for feeling like this. I'm so tired of being alone, but I don't want to be with the Guardians. I just want you to show up here and- yeah, is that cool?"

Now I'm really glad he hasn't come. It would be so pathetic if he showed up now that I have tears stinging at my eyes because I just want to see him. To tell him when I know he's actually listening that I feel like crap. I want him to understand. In my last ditch effort to be heard, I barely squeak out into the dark. " _Pitch...?_ Do you care as much as I do? Am I seriously going crazy?"

I just want to be myself again.


	2. Chapter 2

_He begins heading toward the window of Jamie's room to get out, but I grab him by his hood and tug him back._ _"Stay put."_

"You givin' me orders, now? When Bunny said this bandage looked like a collar, I guess he really wasn't kidding." _He says that, but he's not making to leave anymore, so I suppose it worked, for now. As long as he doesn't change his mind. Before he has a chance to, I touch the incoming thread of dream sand, infecting it with darkness before it even reaches Jamie's sleeping mind._

"Hey wait, is...uh, is Sandy okay with this? You did get permission, right?"

 _I glare at him. As if I, the Great and Terrible Bogeyman, need permission to give a child a nightmare. Certainly not. We watch as the dream transforms itself, the dark grains coming together to create a small version of Jack. He's making ice and causing trouble, much like that day Jamie remembers so well on his sled, except instead of fun, it's scary. The little black dream version of Jamie nearly getting run over by several cars as dream Jack laughs._

"Stop it! What're you trying to do? I told you forever ago that I don't wanna be feared!" _Jack tries to scatter the dream by physically messing with the sand, but it just reforms itself immediately after. after He gives up in frustration and sighs, resigned. After a moment, he looks to me and pats my arm in...affection._ "Look at you, got all your stuff back. Congrats. Look, it's not like I don't appreciate the thought, but I'd rather not have Jamie run away screaming the next time I see him, so if you could just, y'know..."

* * *

Giving Jamie a nightmare about me to try and get him to believe in me, when Pitch himself has no believers...it's almost sweet. As much as I definitely do not want Jamie to fear me, I get that Pitch is just trying to help, in his own way.

 _"It's just a dream, Jack. He won't even remember what his nightmare was about once he wakes."_ Pitch puts his hand on my shoulder, giving me a very small smile that can hardly even be considered there as he nods his head toward the window. _"Leave something."_

I stare at Pitch. Is this really the same king of nightmares I fought not all that long ago? He seems so changed and I'd hardly noticed it until now. Comparatively, this guy is basically an overgrown fluff ball, with the way he's acting. Bandaging my neck, restoring belief...

 _"If you don't leave something, I will just have to find a way to make the nightmare...last."_ His smile turns wicked as more darkness threatens to enter the sand and make it even darker than before. Yeah, definitely the same guy, there's no mistaking it. Without even looking away from Pitch or moving from my spot, I raise my staff, lightly tapping the window pane and spreading frost across the window.

"That gonna be enough?"

 _"Hopefully."_

"Since when do you hope for anythi-"

 _"Shh."_ Pitch looks over at Jamie, who has stirred in his sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

((Author's Note: FlygonWriter64 asked me the question "What if Pitch was standing in the shadows this whole time?!" in relevance to chapter 23 and I _may_ have gotten _more than a little bit_ carried away with the idea...))

* * *

 _The intense, overwhelming fear of losing oneself sinks into my senses and it positively reeks of Jack._

 _My nightmare, my own fear of Jack being that thing again, of him becoming trapped within his own mind, just as I was...I can't let it happen. He wouldn't be fun anymore. He would no longer be Jack, instead, nothing but a horrid reflection of my most miserable moments, animated into a current reality which I would be forced to either face or run from. I can't. Something awful twists through my stomach at the thought and I am loathe to admit that it's the fear of losing Jack. How could he have slipped past everything I've built and manage to become someone I'm this afraid to lose?_

 _I never meant for this to happen._

 _I sink through the shadows and toward Jack's fear until I'm hiding in a freezing cave, the darkness of it all surrounding and protecting me from the sight of the frost spirit who stands in one of many light patches where the dark, corrupt ice hasn't covered, allowing bits of sparkle to brighten his face._

 _But it isn't his face that I notice first. A single strip of black has made itself seen in his hair as the boy watches his own reflection in the ice._

 _It's real, it's happening. I can't stop it from happening. What could I possibly do to prevent it at this point?_

"Hey, Pitch? Little help, here?" _Jack asks to the darkness. For the smallest moment I think he knows I'm here, but he doesn't. He looks too hopeless. He's still calling out for me. I need to answer._

 _Wait. Why do I need to answer? He was the one who got angry and left, just like that time in Antarctica. Why would I answer his loneliness and attempt to sooth him? I wasn't supposed to get attached to him in the first place. If he destroys himself in this way, why should I come to save him? I don't save anyone, I'm the Bogeyman, the darkness, the shadow. It was my fault he became corrupted by the darkness in the first place. He was holding onto me._

 _He picks up the black ribbon and feels it between his fingers. It's special to him._

 _He's better off dealing with all this on his own. He's done that his entire life, why not now? I can only make it worse. I should go._

"I'm stuck. Pitch? Hey!"

 _But I can't. I can't just leave him here._

"...Remember what you said in Antarctica? Back when I hated you and you hated me, and it made sense? ...I could really use that whole 'family' thing right about now. Or, anything. I don't know. Whatever. I guess family doesn't really fit us. Doesn't matter, though. You can't hear me. I know you can't hear me. I can't stop talking to you as though you could, though. Hah, at this point, it's probably better you don't."

 _That offer has expired. I don't need him for that anymore. I made that offer because I wanted power, and joined the Guardians for that very same reason. Now that I have it, I could...just discard him. I can betray both him and the Guardians now, like I've been waiting to do all this time. This is perfect. This is what I wanted._

 _This is exactly what I was going to do. I have enough power now to separate myself from him and from the rest of those ridiculous goons. I can just go, and be better off for it._

"I just-...don't know what's happening to me. I'm sorry about before. I'm still angry that you brought me to Jamie." _He throws out an empty laugh._ "I also just lovedbeing shoved into a dark, endless pit of fear and despair and then ending up in the last place I wanted to be. Just my favorite kind of transportation. Pro tip though- little warning next time."

 _Just leave. Leave. Why can't I get myself to move?_

"Hah, just in case you were wondering, that was sarcasm. North didn't get it last time I tried that on him." _Jack waits for me to say something, but I can't. This is my fault. I have to go. I have to..._ "...But I get it, I think. You were trying to get Jamie to believe in me, weren't you? Trying to be helpful in the darkest, creepiest way that you can, in true Boogeyman fashion. Way to go."

 _How long must I listen to this? How long until my legs allow me to slip into the darkness and away from him? I have to betray him. I must. I want the entire world to believe in me, and fear me, and I can't have that with the Guardians breathing down my neck. Why can't I just detach?_ "Tell you what, if you show up here like right now, I swear I won't hit you for being a jerk and not even warning me about where you were taking me. Really. Promise." _He laughs an empty laugh and it echoes throughout the icy cave._

"Pitch! Damn it! I just want outta here!" _I reach out of the darkness for him as he hits his fists against the dark ice violently, not even making a single crack when he throws his entire weight against it. I need to let him know I'm here, I need to..._

 _No. Blast it, I can't. I retract my hand and return to my corner of shadows, not allowing HIM to notice I'd ever stepped out of the darkness to begin with. Jack turns his back on the ice and slides down to the ground, hugging his knees like a frightened child._ "This is your fault, y'know. Not the darkness, that's on me." It isn't, though. The fearlings were brought by me. His voice is so quiet, I have to move to a closer area of shadows just to hear him. "It's your fault I feel so horrible right now. If you hadn't...I don't know." _If I hadn't what? What on Earth is he prattling on about?_

"Maybe it really is my fault for feeling like this. I'm so tired of being alone, but I don't want to be with the Guardians. They're great and all, but they don't get it. They don't get me, and...you do."

"...At least, I thought you did. I just want you to show up here and- yeah, is that cool? Are we cool?" _He begs into the darkness and although this is the most powerful I've been since the Guardians took me down, I feel entirely powerless. I can't move to help him and I can't move to leave. I'm caught in twilight._

 _Jack suddenly lets out a frightened sob._ "Pitch...?"

"Do you care as much as I do? Am I seriously going crazy?"

* * *

 _"Jack."_ Pitch calls out, his voice broken.


End file.
